Spotted: Students create presidential wax museum

Mary Beth Lyon/For Bluffton Today George Washington as his cutout self, Logan White as Thomas Jefferson, William Lemire as Theodore Roosevelt and Anthony Senouillet as Abraham Lincoln create Mt. Rushmore at St. Gregory the Great Catholic School.

President William Howard Taft was so fat he would get stuck in the White House Bathtub so he had to install a four-man tub so he could take a bath while he was in office. He also liked milk so much he kept a cow on the White House lawn.

President James Polk’s wife started the tradition of playing ‘Hail to the Chief’ when he entered a room because Polk was so short, he often went unnoticed in a crowd.

First vice president and second President John Adams was opposed to the title ‘President’ and instead fought diligently for the title ‘His High Mightiness’ to which he lost out.

His son, President John Quincy Adams, had a pet alligator while President Calvin Coolidge had pet raccoons living with him in the White House.

First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt liked to play hockey as a school girl.

Students and parents were informed and entertained by those and many other presidential facts during the ‘Presidential Wax Museum’ held at St. Gregory the Great Catholic School this past week. The ‘Wax Museum’ was presented by Sr. Judy Therese’s third-grade class and Sr. Agnes Marie’s fourth-grade class.

“We normally do a famous person living wax museum every year as a four-month project.” Sr. Judy explained. “During this project, students are required to choose a famous person, research him/her, create an informational tri-fold board complete with pictures and then put together a costume and speech to present at our ‘Living Wax Museum’ which is attended by the entire school and parents. This year, with it being an election year, we decided to go with a theme and had the students pick Presidents or First Ladies to study in depth.”

All of the Presidents were chosen along with eight first ladies ranging from Caroline Harrison to Barbara Bush. Mitt Romney even got into the act. “We had to cover our bases knowing we were going to have our wax museum in January,” Sr. Agnes Marie said. “When he (Romney) lost the election, the students had already put three months work into it, so we decided to let her represent him anyway.”

Fourth-grade student Tripp Currier chose President Obama and went above and beyond for his research by attending President Obama’s inauguration in Washington, D.C. “It was exciting and very crowded.” Tripp said. “It helped me with my project though by showing how much work goes into being the President and protecting him.”

“In the end, through this experience the students have learned much and we hope this presidential history lesson stays with them for the rest of their lives,” Sr. Judy concluded.

After all, who knew that James Garfield could write in Greek with one hand and Latin with the other at the same time?